New markets - The return of the air
show: Red Bull Air Race
The gradual, calculated expansion of Red Bull into new markets has underlined the company' early uccess, and its presence in sport has been no different. Before joining the ranks of Fl, Red Bull recognised a potential niche market that had yet to be exploited: the idea of merging the speed and racing elements from Fl with flying, a long-time passion of Mateschitz. The Red Bull think-tank, responsible for devising the innovative porting events that form the basis of the organisation's marketing strategy, introduced the concept of the Air Racing event in 2001 and then spent the following two years developing the race, which wa designed to challenge the best pilots in the world by testing their skill through a series of innovative inflatable obstacles, known as 'Air Gates'. The first official Air Race took place in 2004 and was expanded in 2005 to become the Red Bull Air Race World Championships, with ten pilots racing in seven different coun tries, including the USA, Netherlands and United Arab Emirates.
The port has continued to attract more pilots and venues ever ince. For a new sport, Red Bull has managed to achieve a large media portfolio, with 66 television channels across the globe streaming live or recorded coverage of air races during the year. This coverage has added to the n"las sive live audiences that attend these races, including estimates of up to 1.5 million attendees internationally. This steady growth and development has become syn onymous with Red Bull's overall strategy. The same development strategy was employed when producing the core prod uct of the company, the Red Bull bever age, and then employed again when deciding upon a global expansion plan. Other sporting activities have been approached in the same way, including the purchase of football and ice hockey teams in the lower echelons of the sports in their respective countries and the subsequent rebranding of them and the devel opment of the Junior Driver progranm1e to the farm team system in F1.